There are many detergent active materials which require protection from atmospheric moisture, air and co-ingredients of compositions with which they are formulated.
Some of these actives include enzymes, bleaches, colourants, catalysts and other detergent active compounds.
For instance, it is well known in the art that enzyme deactivation occurs in aqueous detergent compositions containing proteolytic enzymes or mixtures of enzymes one of which is proteolytic.
The loss of detergent activity of said detergent active compounds, also referred to as detergent instability has already been retarded by chemical stabilization methods.
Yet the effectiveness of these methods tend to be limited in that different chemicals at different levels are needed to protect different detergent active compounds.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a stabilization system that can be used to protect any detergent active compound in any detergent formulation.
According to the present invention, a detergent additive is provided comprising a hydrophillic detergent active compound characterized in that said compound is mixed with a surfactant before absorption into a porous hydrophobic material, said porous material subsequently being coated with a hydrophobic material.
According to one embodiment, the present invention provides detergent compositions comprising detergent active compounds which have improved stability upon storage.
According to another embodiment, the porous hydrophobic material comprising a detergent active compound being absorbed into said hydrophobic material can be used to store said detergent active compounds in the form of non-dusting granulates.